Chavez body to be permanently displayed

In this photo released by Miraflores Press Office, a woman pays her respects, placing a hand on her heart and saluting, before she files past the glass-topped casket containing the remains of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez at the military academy, where he started his army career, in Caracas, Thursday, March 7, 2013. Battling an unspecified cancer, Chavez died Tuesday. His flag-draped coffin lies in state at the military academy as a mile-long line of mourners come to pay homage. (AP Ph
— AP

In this photo released by Miraflores Press Office, a woman pays her respects, placing a hand on her heart and saluting, before she files past the glass-topped casket containing the remains of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez at the military academy, where he started his army career, in Caracas, Thursday, March 7, 2013. Battling an unspecified cancer, Chavez died Tuesday. His flag-draped coffin lies in state at the military academy as a mile-long line of mourners come to pay homage. (AP Ph
/ AP

CARACAS, Venezuela 
Venezuela's acting president says Hugo Chavez's embalmed body will be permanently displayed in a glass casket so that "his people will always have him."

Vice President Nicolas Maduro says the remains will be put on permanent display at the Museum of the Revolution, close to the presidential palace where Chavez ruled for 14 years. Maduro says the president will lie in state first for at least another seven days.

A state funeral for Chavez attended by some 33 heads of government is scheduled to begin Friday morning. Tens of thousands have already filed past his glass-topped casket at a military academy following a seven-hour procession on Tuesday which took his body from the hospital where he died.